This invention relates to fog producing firefighting tools and, more particularly, to a collapsible firefighting tool having modular sections attached together by quick connect/disconnect couplings.
The use of conventional firehose nozzles which eject a straight stream of liquid are well known in the art. Such nozzles, however, are clearly not advantageous in all firefighting scenarios. It is common knowledge that a fire requires oxygen, and a combustible material heated to a combustion temperature. The removal of any of these elements results in the fire being put out. In many situations, the destruction of various parts of a structure is necessary to reach a fire spreading in a closed area. Since the combustion of articles in a closed area is dependent upon the supply of oxygen, the creation of large holes into the area is disadvantageous since oxygen is allowed to rush through the hole. Any articles which are at the point of combustion will begin to combust in the presence of the oxygen. Still further, the destruction of a structure necessarily involves the loss of time in the primary objective of putting out the fire.
The use of the conventional firehose also means the waste of a great amount of water since a straight stream of water only covers the area of the fire to which the hose is being directed.
Water has a great heat absorbing capacity and the speed at which water absorbs heat is related to the surface area of the water which is exposed. Water from a conventional fire hose frequently runs in streams away from the fire location or forms pools underneath the fire zone such that its fire fighting capabilities are lost. The effectiveness of water in fire fighting is improved when the water is fed to the fire in the form of a fog. Some of the prior art nozzles which provide a fog or mist are shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,993,650; 2,343,305; 2,813,753 and 3,107,060. Such nozzles generally provide narrow output orifices and therefore cannot accommodate the large volume of water available from a fire hose, and often require high water pressure for proper operation.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.